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The fifth volume of the Home of Geography Publication Series summarises the results of a European research project, founded by the European Commission, on interregional migrations in Europe (MIRE). Starting from the Sixties, the study focuses on the changing causes and the new patterns of interregional migrations, paying special attention to the new waves of migrations and the new trends of the Nineties. The research crosses the geographical patterns with different logics of present-day mobility : ethnic and East European migration to the metropolitan areas, gentrification and migrations of executives, periurbanisation, rurbanisation, weak mobility of the early manufacturing areas, retirement migrations, etc. A specific chapter is devoted to the migratory balances in the Central-Eastern European countries.

Università "G.d'Annunzio" Department of Economy and History of the Territory

IGU Commission "Global Change and Human Mobility"

Université Libre de Bruxelles

Migrations in Europe : The Four Last Decades

Chapter 2 - A General Overview of the Regional Migratory Balancesin the European Union during the Four Last Decades The methodologyThe overall evolutions Pertinent scales and socio-economic explanations

Chapter 3 - The International Migrations The global tendencies of immigration in Europe The national specificities of immigration The asylum seekers Clandestine immigration Profile of the immigrants Where are they going to? The new forms of international migrations and the European Union

The socio-economic framework : the evolution of migratory patterns must be considered in the framework of the economic evolution, but it is also evident that migrations are less related to interregional economic disparities now than a few decades ago. International migrations from outside the Western European countries now occur on a more individual basis than before, and surely no more organised by the Western European states and big companies, as during the Sixties. The migratory pattern also has to be examined in the framework of a stagnant demography.

A general overview of the regional migratory balances in the European Union during the four last decades: after short methodological considerations, this chapter describes the geographical pattern of the migratory balances, decade after decade. It emphasises the strong movements of the Sixties and the beginning of the Seventies, the weak migratory balances of the Eighties and a growing migratory trend during the Nineties. The pertinent explanations must be examined at different geographical scales.

International migrations : Immigration towards Europe is changing in nature : a rush from the Eastern part of Europe at the beginning of the Nineties, a growing part of the migrations from overseas, asylum seekers, clandestine immigration, but also temporary immigration of international executives in the main metropolitan areas. This chapter examines the new profiles of the migrants and the question of where they are going to.

The spatial logics of present-day mobility in Europe : what are the reasons for the new migratory flows to and from the main metropolitan areas ? What about the early manufacturing areas? Are rurbanisation processes superseding the rural exodus in all rural areas or not? What about the situation in the very peripherical regions, like Northern Scandinavia? What is the importance of the heliotropic migrations? Is cross-border migration growing?

The migratory balances in the Central-European countries : what were the consequences of the fall of the so-called socialist economies and the opening to the West on the migratory balances ? Aside from the attraction for the West, there are also movements from countries further East, using the Central-Eastern European countries as a step to the West. The economic and demographic situation of the old industrial areas is weakening; on the contrary the growth is strong in the capital regions, with an entirely new trend to periurbanisation, and the situation is better in the regions more open to the West.

Following a synthesis of the main new trends, the conclusive chapter introduces several hypotheses concerning possible evolutions in the near future.